Cell Phones

Asus ZenFone Live (L1) Review of Pros And Cons

- Analysis by KJ David

Although it's a totally different phone from the 2017 Zenfone Live (ZB501KL), the Asus Zenfone Live L1 (ZA550KL) shares a lot of the former's entry-level characteristics, consequently floundering versus the best Android phones listed here at Phonerated. One of its biggest cons is its hardware setup, consisting of a modest 1.4GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 425 processor coupled with a budget-class 2GB RAM -- Asus also ships a less-competitive variant with only 1GB of RAM.

Don't Buy The Asus ZenFone Live (L1) Before You Check:

This Zenfone Live model does not sound very lively in terms of display either, settling for a mundane 1440 x 720 HD+ resolution on its 5.5-inch IPS facade, which at least adapts the trendy (as we were reviewing its pros and cons) 18:9 wide aspect ratio that was introduced by some of the best large-screen smartphones on the market.

Its biggest pro, however, comes from the storage department, particularly, its monstrous 2TB microSD card slot , which makes its middling 32GB or 16GB native memory forgivable, not to mention that only a handful of other low-budget smartphones offered support for 2TB memory cards when it hit the market.

Also among its favorable specs is its 3000mAh battery pack , which may not place the Zenfone Live L1 among the best heavy-duty smartphones available (those ones usually boast power caps of more than 4000mAh), but certainly places it a level higher than a lot of 2018 low-end alternatives. Additionally, most of its battery cell's stress test scores pass the respective average marks as of this write-up. For instance, its 4-day music playback time was roughly 60 percent higher than the average value, while its 28-hour (1680 minutes) 3G talk time outstripped the average mark by roughly 95 percent.

As for its imaging pros and cons, the Zenfone Live L1 sports a middle-of-the-road (in the entry-level market) 5-megapixel selfie camera that's spruced up -- if only slightly -- by a softlight LED flash , which we would say is designed for snapping selfies under low-light conditions. On the other hand, its main cam is a 13- or 8-megapixel shooter (depending on variant) that's rigged with phase-detection autofocus (PDAF) and Asus's self-branded PixelMaster camera suite.

Topped off by Face Unlock (user facial recognition), the Zenfone Live L1 is a budget-class Android for users who are meticulous when it comes to storage and stamina.